ADVANCING ADOPTION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF AGE-FRIENDLY INITIATIVES THROUGH SYNERGIES AND IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE

Abstract For communities interested in adopting age-friendly principles, the plethora of age-friendly initiatives (i.e., age-, disability-, and dementia-friendly cities and communities; age-friendly universities, health systems, and public health systems) can be overwhelming. For rural, frontier, underserved, and under-resourced communities, it can be challenging to consider tackling even one such initiative. A major barrier to implementation is the know-do gap between what is known and what gets accomplished in practice. This gap is widened as a result of overly complex models and practices that are difficult to disseminate and scale, difficult to reproduce, or do not apply across settings. The know-do gap can be effectively bridged by focusing on core features common across age-friendly ecosystem initiatives. To successfully advance this work, it is important to consider strategies to maximize the collective impact of age-friendly initiatives and explore opportunities to tailor these initiatives so they can be successfully adapted for and adopted by various settings, contexts, and populations. Using an implementation science approach, three models will be introduced (Strengths-Based Interprofessional Practice and Education (SB-IPE); Micro-, Meso-, Macro- M3: Aligning Your Nexus Through a Systems Lens; and Kennedy Model of Sustainability) to facilitate the adoption and sustainability of evidence-based age-friendly principles, programs, and policies.

is unknown whether these immune-related aging processes are associated with neurodegeneration, tauopathy, amyloid accumulation, and/or vascular issues in the brain.
To address this gap, we utilized a set of recently assayed highly innovative markers of neurodegeneration, biomarkers of inflammation, and proportions of naïve lymphocytes (indicative of less immune aging), and cognitive dysfunction (errors on the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status) in the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative sample of US adults over age 50 (N = 3985).
Neurodegenerative biomarkers mediated about half of the association between inflammation and cognitive dysfunction.
It appears that greater systemic inflammation may be associated with brain damage and tauopathy.Interventions focused on reducing systemic inflammation may be successful in reducing neurodegeneration and cognitive dysfunction in older adults.Frameworks to make communities, universities, public health systems, and health services more inclusive and equitable for older adults and people with disabilities have expanded over the last decade.Centering the voices of older adults, these "age-friendly" initiatives have sought social change through building knowledge, changing attitudes, and developing new practices and policies in a variety of settings.Despite the similarities in values and principles across these initiatives, these models of social change have largely operated independently from one another with unique administrative structures, networks, and resources.This presentation will utilize a macro application of the KAP (knowledge, attitude, practice) theory of behavior change to identify the vast opportunity for synergies across the age-friendly ecosystem, strengthening the potential for collective impact and lasting change.Often these initiatives have overlapping and intersecting goals and would benefit from intentional alignment across the initiatives.Modeled after the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges and the Grand Challenges for Social Work, we propose the Grand Challenges for the Age-Friendly Ecosystem, areas in need of action and support, for transformational change in our social, educational, service, and built environments to better meet the needs of our aging society.

ADVANCING ADOPTION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF AGE-FRIENDLY INITIATIVES THROUGH SYNERGIES AND IMPLEMENTATION SCIENCE Teri Kennedy, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, United States
For communities interested in adopting age-friendly principles, the plethora of age-friendly initiatives (i.e., age-, disability-, and dementia-friendly cities and communities; age-friendly universities, health systems, and public health systems) can be overwhelming.For rural, frontier, underserved, and under-resourced communities, it can be challenging to consider tackling even one such initiative.A major barrier to implementation is the know-do gap between what is known and what gets accomplished in practice.This gap is widened as a result of overly complex models and practices that are difficult to disseminate and scale, difficult to reproduce, or do not apply across settings.The know-do gap can Holly Dabelko-Schoeny 1 , and Marisa Sheldon 2 , 1.The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States, 2. Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States